Olmos Fighting To Keep Teacher He Portrayed On Film Alive

The actor and his former co-star Vanessa Marquez have learned of the plight of Los Angeles teacher Jaime Escalante, who is battling bladder cancer, and they're trying to raise $30,000 (£18,750) to pay his medical bills.

The beloved mathematics teacher, 79, has been given just months to live but Olmos is convinced that with the right care, he'll live longer.

He says, "The treatment he needs has depleted all the funds his family can raise. The family did not want to ask for help, but we took it upon ourselves to get the word out to all the country (America) and around the world to make his final days as comfortable as possible - and maybe even give him the chance to beat the cancer."

Escalante hit the headlines in the late 1960s when he encouraged inner-city kids to master calculus and turned California's Garfield High into one of America's top maths schools.